Find me a van then...

[weeksy]

load by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

40cm longer then.

[Mussels]

load by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

40cm longer then.

You can see it on the side, a slightly bigger gap between sliding door and rear wheels. It made a lot of difference to me in a crew cab but might not to you.
The extra length was rarely a problem, it has a good turning circle.

[cheb]

I'd forgotten about the heated windscreen my Transit had, one thing I miss.

[weeksy]

I'd forgotten about the heated windscreen my Transit had, one thing I miss.

HEated seat will be even better

But tomorrow morning i'm sure i'll use the screen as well.

[weeksy]

https://www.swscommercials.co.uk/cars/f ... wb/790153/


As you've seen via Whatsapp, this one is being considered after chatting with you.

I've a full size transit and it's ace. It started off as a panel van and I've added to it over the last couple of years. Cut some windows in, electrics and a diesel heater. It's nice being able to stand up to change leathers.

Either way, that one is already sold yesterday arvo. Probably to someone on MTB forum

[cheb]

I'm tempted to make a higher offer on the one you're testing once it's had a thorough evaluation.

Fripperies in vehicles, heated seats etc, aren't that important to me. I've driven vehicles with and without air con, cruise control, auto wipers etc. and I'm not fussed by them enough for it to be a deal breaker.

The most pointless for me is haptic lane warning, try that in a Luton bodied Transit on narrow single track roads.

[Yorick]

This has Weeksy written all over it

image-asset.jpeg.jpg (102.46 KiB) Viewed 385 times

[Bowman]

My thoughts are leading me towards "Do i honestly need any bigger" and i'm struggling with the 'when' i'd actually need more.

I suppose only you know the answer to that, but as I said I never regretted having too much space in my van and once I started adding 'nice to have' things I ended up having to pack quite cleverly as well. I put a baffled water container in that took up a lot of side space (for the pressure washer), then the washer, generator, two or three stackable boxes of MX gear, helmets, gazebo, spares, tools, etc.

You don't have to go full camper but being nicely self sufficient with water, cooking, somewhere warm and dry to get changed, etc, was nice to have.

That's the thinking behind my van. Not full camper but sound proofed, heated and enough electric to supply most things. The bed was about storage underneath as anything else.

[Couchy]

A battery pack that charges while you drive is good for a small kettle or heater and the jet wash, I use a Bluetti one.

[ChrisW]

It looks like you could fit one inside the other - like Russian dolls.

[weeksy]

Van worked lovely on the day... Sadly my MTB never as i lost a bolt... sadly for me it was a game changer bolt which can't be sourced on the day as it's very very specific to the bike.

But anyway, the van.
It's a little lumpy when first starting at 6.30am in -3deg.... But soon gets to sounding OK in 20s. It's a fairly ticky/noise/diesel engine, but that's a Transit Custom for you.. well, it's actually a van as we know.

Everything works perfectly though.

It does have a slightly ticky/tappy noise on right handers, which Couchy tells me is CV joint potentially, but the van wasn't prepped for sale yet, so that'll get done before i collect. But other than that... no issues at all with it for me. Drives as it should 34-36mpg but a chunk of that was uppy downy back roads and through the gearbox... i think i'll see closer to 40s on a decent run.

I even provided an uplift service for the boy and his team-mate who got 3 full runs with a quick uplift in the van after they'd been sessioning the trails earlier.

Excellent

[Pirahna]

But anyway, the van

I'm a little lost now. You've got a Transit Custom on loan for the weekend?

[demographic]

You can fit a reasonably sized car in the back of a big Crafter, they're huge, nice to drive, but huge

Err, nope.
Width means its not happening.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You can fit a reasonably sized car in the back of a big Crafter, they're huge, nice to drive, but huge

Err, nope.
Width means its not happening.

You can get a VW Polo in there with the mirrors folded in

[demographic]

Wouldn't fit between the wheelarches.

[weeksy]

But anyway, the van

I'm a little lost now. You've got a Transit Custom on loan for the weekend?

Loan possibly, buying likely
2022-12-10_07-38-54 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Dodgy69]

Have it...

[Pirahna]

Loan possibly, buying likely

A good choice. Does it work with your load and passenger requirements?

[weeksy]

Loan possibly, buying likely

A good choice. Does it work with your load and passenger requirements?

2022-12-09_01-17-39 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[demographic]

One thing the Transits are bloody good at and its the front cab area.
Enough cupholders, storage for a couple of 2l pop bottles/flasks. Flip over thing for doing yer paperwork on, USB sockets.
A genuinely nice place for a tradesman to sit and have their bait/do impromptu officework.

The last Crafter I was in was a few years ago but the Transit urinates all over it for that front cab area and it made the crafter look badly thought out.

Of all the vans I've spent a bit of time in Mk 7 and the later custom Transits are by far the nicest place to be in.